F 
W(o7) 




L/6VEXjAS 
HOT SPRINGS 

** ANDVICINITV 




ft 



Las Vegas Hot Springs 

AND Vicinity. 



Bv C. A. HIG0IN5. 

n 



0^ 



issued by the 
Passenger Department Santa Fe Route, 

August, 1898. 



n 



70008 






CONTENTS. 



I. Something about Climate, with reference to 
New Mexico in general and Las Vegas 
Hot Springs in particular, 5 

II. A Sanatorium for the Sick, a Recuperating- 
place for the Overworked, and a Pleasur- 
able Resort for the rest of Mankind, . 13 

III. New Mexican Sketches : 

1. A Backward View, 29 

2. Touching Burros, 33 

3. The Pecos Church, 37 

4. Mountain Trout and Quail, .... 43 



« ■ 



Sometbina about Climate, witb retercnce to IFlew 
/iftejfco In general an& Xas IDeoas Ibot Springs 
in particular. ****#*** 




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N point of latitude New Mexico is south- 
ern, just as in point of longitude it is 
western, for it lies wholly below the 37th 
parallel and extends southerly beyond 
the northern line of every one of the 
Gulf States except Florida. 

Is it, then, a land of relaxing winters 
and torrid summers? By no means. In imagining an 
untried climate in southern latitudes it is a common 
error to overlook two very important factors. Elevation 
above sea-level is the first ; humidity, or its absence, is 
the second. . With regard to the first, it should be 
remembered that an elevation of approximately 800 
feet above any given level is climatically equivalent to 
a degree of latitude ; that is to say, an elevation of from 
5,600 to 7,000 feet above sea-level on the 36th parallel 
should, other things being equal, be of the same tem- 
perature with sea-level between the 42d and 44th degrees 
of north latitude. Now, 5,600 feet is the exact mean 
elevation of the entire Territory of New Mexico ; thirty- 
six degrees is the approximate latitude of Las Vegas Hot 
Springs, and 7,000 feet its altitude.* On the other hand, 
all the New England seaside summer resorts, from Bar 
Harbor to Newport, lie between the 42d and 44th parallels. 
You see the point of the comparison : the climate 
of Las Vegas Hot Springs would be practically the 
same as that of the New England coast resorts, pro- 
vided other things were equal. 



♦Actually 6,767. 



But other things are not equal. There is an enor- 
mous difference in favor of New Mexico, due to the almost 
entire absence of humidity from the atmosphere. It is a 
country of sparse rainfall, and while it has several 
important rivers and many small scattered streams, the 
fact that in agriculture it is almost wholly dependent 
upon irrigation shows a decided lack of disseminated 
moisture. The reports of the United States Signal Serv- 
ice contain statistics showing the humidity of most 
localities throughout the country, and from those reports 
the following figures are taken : 

New England 73%, Middle Atlantic States 74%, 
South Atlantic States 79%, Ohio Valley and Tennessee 
73%, Florida 75%, New York City 72%, San Francisco 
76%, New Orleans 79^, Territory of New Mexico 29% 
to 43%, according to locality. 

The contrast presented by these figures is still more 
strongly marked when it is remembered that by humidity 
is meant only the amount of invisible moisture in the air. 
The frequent visitations of rain and fog to which the sea- 
side localities named are subjected make the amount of 
actual atmospheric moisture much greater there, while 
New Mexico has but little rain and never knew a fog. 
The area of the territor}^ is 122,444 square miles, whose 
mean altitude, as already stated, is 5,600 
feet. One-fiftieth of that area rises 
above 10,000 feet, and it pos- 
sesses several mountain 
peaks at least 13,000 
feet high. This 
pronounced alti- 
tude of an entire 
territory, averaging 




nearly as high as the famous crest of New England's 
giant, Mount Washington, would certainly be character- 
ized by extreme cold in winter were it not, first, for its 
southerly latitude, and secondly, for the extraordinary 
dryness of the air. In point of fact, the combination 
of these three factors results in a temperate climate 
whose equability is but little affected by summer or 
winter solstice. 

There is hardly a day in the year when the most 
sensitive invalids may not be out of doors with impunity, 
nor is there any season when the infirm may not and do 
not make excursions among the picturesque hills and 
inviting cafions, and picnic on the ground. In mid- 
summer the rays of the sun are ardent, but never harm- 
ful. No one was ever overheated in New Mexico by 
work or exercise in the sun ; and in the shade, and at 
night, it is always cool, for the dry, pure air contains 
nothing that can be heated. So, in winter, while nights 
are often cool, they never approach the Eastern expe- 
rience of winter weather, and with the rising of the sun 
the temperate warmth returns. Snow buries the distant 
lofty ranges, and in the night, at rare intervals, falls 
lightly upon the lower levels, but never remains there 
save for a day or two in patches among the canon shades. 




GOVERNOR'S PALACE AT SANTA FE. 




One hundred and eighty- 
seven days of unclouded sky, 
one hundred and thirty-nine 
days when sunshine pre- 
dominates, and thirty-nine 
cloudy days make up the 
average year in New Mexico, 
and of the thirty-nine days that are cloudy there is 
hardly one on which the sun does not shine at least a 
part of the time. On account of this preponderance of 
clear sky the territory has long been known as The 
Land of Sunshine. How it can be a land of sunshine in 
southern latitudes and be free from oppressive summer 
heat, and how it can lie at an altitude equal to that of 
the White Mountains and be free from severe winter 
cold, should now be plain. 

But what is the average summer and winter tempera- 
ture ? Now, of all the irresponsible combinations known 
to numbers, the most abandoned is probably the average ; 
and of all averages the mean temperature of a given 
locality is, without any doubt, the most barren of 
information. Imagine, if you please, a 
country whose temperature is uniformly in 

summer 6i°, 
and in winter 
59° ; and an- 
other whose 
summer and 
winter tem- 
peratures are 
respectively 
ioo° and 20°. 
The average 




CAMPING OUT ON THE QALLINAS. 



temperature of each country is 60°, yet the one where 
the thermometer blisters for six months and congeals 
the rest of the time is represented by the same figure 
as the other where there is a variation of only 2° in all 
the year. 

The record of five years' observations at Las Vegas 
Hot Springs gave the following mean temperatures : 

January 41.0, February 49.0, March 56.0, April 58.0, 
May 61.4, June 71.4, July 74.0, August 71.9, September 
65.0, October 55.4, November 
53.7, December 52.0, or a mean 
annual temperature of 59.07. 
What this record cannot com- 
municate is the fact that the 
citizen of New Mexico has 
his cold winter weather at 
night, when he sits by the fire 
or lies in bed under an extra 
blanket ; while by day he 
hardly knows the use of an 
overcoat. It does not commu- 
nicate the fact that in mid- 
summer the blanket is still in 
demand, but the heat of noon- 
day is never distressful. 

In the East the mean an- 
nual temperature is an averag- 
ing of violent extremes of heat 
and cold. In New Mexico it 
represents the habitual rather 
than the average. 



II 




",^ 




CANON ABOVE LAS VEGAS HOT SPRINGS. 



II. 



B Sanatorium for tbe Sicft, a IRecuperatina^placc 
for tbe ©verworfte^, nnt> a ipleasurable TResort 
for tbe rest of /iBankinD. « * * ^ == 



13 




T happens that there is scarce another 
known climate so absolutely friendly 
to man and so valuable an ally against 
the innumerable forms of disease that 
lour upon him all the way from the 
cradle to the grave. Its equability at 
a comfortable temperature, its pure 
air, free from humidity and rarefied by altitude, and its 
almost unclouded sun, render New Mexico the most de- 
sirable resort in the world for those who are afflicted 
with any form of lung or throat disease ; and as such 
it is rapidly being adopted by the medical fraternity, 
not only in the United States but in several countries 
abroad. It is a fact that New Mexico numbers among 
its energetic and prosperous citizens hundreds who, 
leaving their Eastern or Northern homes a few years 
ago with no better hope than to prolong by a few 
months a life apparently doomed to speedy termination 
by the scourge of our time, consumption, have there 
regained perfect health and the promise of a long and 
happy existence. And many others annually desert 
the harsher regions and repair to New Mexico at the 
approach of winter to preserve their lives. It is certain 
that consumption can be arrested, and even permanently 
cured, by residence there, if the change be made in 
time. And the climate that can not only withstand but 
conquer so terrible an adversary is a match likewise for 



15 




VIEW FROM THE MONTEZUMA BALCONY. 



a long array of 
other less formi- 
dable human ail- 
ments. Are you 
aware for how few 
localities in the 
whole world such a 
sweeping claim can 
be made without 
violation of the truth ? Do you know that the compli- 
cations of disease find some fatal flaw in nearly every 
variety of climate ? Even New Mexico makes one excep- 
tion in welcoming the sick. High altitudes are com- 
monly regarded as aggravating to pronounced heart dis- 
ease, and sufferers from that malady in an advanced 
stage are not advised to go there for relief; but every 
other class of invalid may confidently anticipate the most 
kindly treatment, for those ailments which the soft min- 
istrations of climate alone cannot wholly obviate yield 
when such ministrations are supplemented by the medic- 
inal virtues of the Springs, to specific mention of which 
at last we are come. 

Half a dozen miles northwest from the old town of 
Las Vegas they bubble out of the hillside, some forty of 
them, varying in temperature from ice-cold to boiling- 
hot, but most of them ranging from iio° to 140° Fahren- 
heit. 

How long their curative properties have been known 
to man it is idle to speculate, for the region has been 
peopled for many centuries, perhaps for thousands of 
years ; but their fame among Mexicans and Indians led 
to the establishment there of a frontier United States 
army hospital nearly fifty years ago, while yet the 



16 




NEW MEXICAN FRUITS. 



northern and 
western bounds 
of Texas were the 
Arkansas River 
and the Rio 
Grande, and all 
west of the Rio 
Grande and 
south of Oregon 
was Spanish dominion, and the wilderness had been 
penetrated by very few of Anglo-Saxon race. Since that 
time numberless cases of nearly every form of disease 
susceptible of mitigation have been either entirely 
cured or greatly alleviated by the liberal use of these 
spring waters in drinking and bathing, aided by the 
health-restoring influences of the climate. 

While a chemical analysis has no particular value for 
the average unprofessional reader, it is a certificate of 
character to such as understand its meaning. The 
waters of Las Vegas Hot Springs, therefore, have been 
subjected to careful test by Dr. Walter S. Haines, Pro- 
fessor of Chemistry, Rush Medical College, who states 
that in many respects they resemble in chemical com- 
position the waters of 
the famous hot springs 
of Teplitz and Karlsbad, 
and finds them to contain 
special ingredients in 
the amounts set down 
below, for every standard 
gallon : 




Carbonate of Calcium 0.89 grains. 

Carbonate of Magnesium o. 15 

Carbonate of Sodium 8.38 

Carbonate of Potassium . ; 0.28 

Sulphate of Sodium 3.35 

Chloride of Sodium 14.68 

Silica 3.50 

Alumina o.io 

Volatile and Organic Matter 0.32 

Carbonate of Lithium Traces. 

Bromide of Sodium Trace. 



Total 31 65 grains. 




DINING ROOM, THE MONTEZUMA. 

Ask your family physician whether or not hot natural 
spring water so charged with chemicals should possess 
remedial qualities. He will tell you that it belongs to 
the class termed Alkaline-Saline, and is beneficial in 
cases of acute and chronic rheumatism, gout, blood- 
poisoning, diseases of the skin, glandular and scrofulous 
diseases, mental exhaustion, debility, spinal troubles, 
nervous affections, dyspepsia, hay fever, asthma, catarrh, 



18 





and a long list of other maladies 
which for want of space must be 
compressed into et cetera^ et cetera. 
The lithia and sulphur elements 
which predominate in some of the 
springs are of special medicinal 
value. 

A combination of climate and 
mineral water exists at Las Vegas 
Hot Springs which will effectually 
rout almost any curable disease. 
The invalid who can sit in that sun- 
shine and breathe that air ; can drink 
that water, bathe in the flow of it, steam 
in the vapor of it, lie packed in the mud of 
it, and hold fast to his disease through it all, has never 
yet been met with. Even imaginary ailments give way 
before forces so potent for good. 

No one who has taken a Turkish bath ever again 
flatters himself he is next door to godliness after a com- 
mon ablution with soap and water ; and just as the 
Turkish bath searches out and removes unsuspected ex- 
ternal accumulations of foreign matter, so do repeated 
draughts of and baths in these hot medicated waters, 
piped directly from their hillside environment with 
almost no loss of temperature, wash the entire system 
free from its impurities and leave the body clean. A 
favorite bath here 
is administered 
by immersion in 
peat mud. It is 
recommended for 
disorders of the 
blood. 




IN THE MEXICAN QUARTER. 



Is not that, then, a favored spot, where healing 
waters gush forth in unstinted flow, amid surroundings 
which, even were there no medicinal fountains, would 
still be unrivaled in the possession of recuperative 
elements ? 

And when to these are added vistas of grass-grown 
meadows between the notches of hills set thick with 
pine and fir, watered by a stream that flows out from 
steep rocky walls into winding courses beneath the 
shade of willow and alder and aspen and maple, idling 
here and there in transparent pools to have a word 
with the trout ; cations penetrating the mountain sides, 
overhung by precipices faced with tree and crag ; lofty 
lookouts and deep secret dells, and far glimpses of 
purple-shadowed ranges knocking their heads against 
the distant sky ; must not such a spot be worth going 
far to see and know ? 

Well, that is Las Vegas Hot Springs, only with a 
greater diversity of beauty and a subtler charm than so 
brief a description can convey. Nature did not design 
it for the sick alone, although for them she made partic- 
ular provision ; the tourist who desires a new sensation ; 
the student of the ruins of antiquity ; the dreamer who 
delights in mementos and suggestions of a romantic and 

irrecoverable past ; the lover of 
nature who prizes imper- 
able memories of 
exalted scenic 
beauty; the 
i sportsman, dev- 
otee of the rod 
and gun ; the 
man of business 




HE BATH HOUSE. 



*^ 




who seeks relief from harass- 
ing cares in a retirement at 
once secluded and invigor- 
ating ; and the vast general 
public that appreciates the 
delights and benefits of an 
occasional sojourn in some 
favored spot where the climate 
is mild, the sunshine constant ,^ 

and the air inspiring, and where 
rest, health and profitable pleasures 
are combined ; — these, equally with the invalid in quest 
of surroundings whose medicinal virtues shall restore his 
vanished health, are welcome guests. They will find at 
Las Vegas Hot Springs not only the natural attractions 
that have been described and suggested, but a crowning 
provision for their comfort and happiness in the luxu- 
rious and perfectly appointed Montezuma, — the only 
thing that was wanting, after the completion of the rail- 
road, to place this ideal sanatorium at the service of all 
mankind. The Montezuma is a surprise and delight to 
visitors, no matter what they may have been 
led to expect before going to the Springs, 
for it is not easy to believe in the actual 
existence of a structure so extensive 
and magnificent, so complete and 
modern in every particular, nestled 
against the side of a canon far from 
the accustomed home of lavish ex- 
penditure. The dream of a genie 
slumbering amid his treasures : that 
is The Montezuma. 

In this four-story stone edifice, 



21 




with its numerous apartments, there is ample accommo- 
dation for several hundred guests, while the spacious 
sunny verandas (fifteen feet in width, a tenth of a mile 
in length) afford abundant room for a multitude by day 
or night. Steam heat, electric lights and all other mod- 
ern conveniences are provided. The baths are close at 
hand, with every facility and every modern method of 
application, under the direction of specially trained 
attendants, and a competent physician. The bath house 
is a commodious structure, fitted up with all necessar}' 
appliances. There is a peat bed here. An ample house 
has been erected in connection with the bath department, 
where the peat is employed in the shape of baths, being 
combined with the hot mineral waters. These baths are 
especially valuable in skin, blood, liver, kidne}', rheu- 
matic and nervous affections, and are a real delight, 
much pleasure being afforded one who indulges in them. 
The natatorium is nine feet deep and fifty-four feet 
long. It is filled with hot spring water, and is for the 
entertainment of guests. Other conveniences consist of 
numerous cottages and annexes, a hospital, post office, 
railroad depot, schoolhouse and telegraph and express 
office. There is also the Mountain House, closely adja- 
cent, with sun parlor attached ; this is a substantial stone 




THE FOUNTAIN, LAS VEGAS HOT SPRINGS. 




OFFICE FIREPLACE. 



structure of sixty rooms. Car- 
riage and saddle horses, ponies, 
burros and a variety of convey- 
ances are at the disposal of 
those who wish to penetrate 
the mountain solitudes. Guides 
also are provided when desired. 
Guests bringing children may 
send them to school here. 

The outdoor treatment is as 
much of a feature here as that given under cover, great 
stress being laid upon the remedial value of pure air and 
sunshine. Some patients prefer to sleep out of doors 
at night, and they experience benefit from the practice. 
Others spend many hours daily in the open air. 

There are trout for fishermen ; quail, ducks and 
geese abound, and larger game may be found in the 
forest. Decayed monuments of prehistoric peoples exist 
for the beguilement of the archaeologist and historian. 
Music, dancing, billiards and bowling are provided for 
the lovers of such pleasures, the large entertainment 
hall being a feature of the place. An air of quiet rest 
pervades the scene, and the invalid is undisturbed by the 
activities of his more robust fellows. The encompassing 
foothills, which protect the place from severe winds, are 
an important factor in promoting restful ness. No sand 
storms occur at Las Vegas Hot Springs, and there are no 
dusty streets to irritate the throat. Pine, pinon, cedar 
and spruce trees grow abundantly, filling the air with 
balsamic odors. And this resort possesses certain nega- 
tive virtues. It has no malaria ; hay fever is unknown ; 
epidemics of acute intestinal diseases never occur ; there 
are no hot nights and no sultry days. 



23 



Neither need one contemplate from afar the possible 
fatigue of a journey. Las Vegas Hot Springs is less 
than two days' ride by rail from Chicago and St. Louis, 
and trains carrying palace sleeping cars and reclining 
chair cars pass Las Vegas daily. Round-trip tickets to 
Las Vegas Hot Springs at greatly reduced rates may be 




-^ 




BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE MONTEZUMA, 



purchased — particulars obtainable of any Santa Fe Route 



agent. 



Dr. Wm. Curtiss Baile)', physician in charge, has 
provided a system of treatment, administered by skilled 
nurses and other attendants, calculated to give Las 



24 




Vegas Hot Springs high rank as a sanatorium. Those 
desiring advice as to the adaptability of the climate and 
waters and of the treatment to individual cases are 
invited to confer with him freely by mail, addressing 
him at The Montezuma. Business communications may 
be addressed to W. G. Greenleaf, manager. 



w 




BATH HUUSE AND SUHKUUNDINUb. 

One unacquainted with the forward strides made by 
New Mexico along the line of material comforts may 
imagine that The Montezuma bill of fare is a restricted 
one. Be assured then, that nothing is lacking at The 
Montezuma which the most fastidious appetite might 



25 



hunger for. All the staples and luxuries are furnished 
in their season. A near-by farm, belonging to the estab- 
lishment, contributes choice home - grown fruits and 
vegetables of a quality and variety unsurpassed in the 
Southwest. The Montezuma herd supplies the very 
best of pure milk, thick cream and yellow butter, and 
the juiciest meats are brought from adjacent stock 
ranges. These are cooked and served in the highest 
style of the culinary art. There is also a flock of forty 
goats, whose milk is served regularly at table, free of 
charge, to those who desire it. 

The rates at The Montezuma are I2.50 to I4.00 by the 
day, and $14.00, |i6.oo, $17.50 and |2i.oo by the week. 
Where two persons occupy a single room a discount of 
fifty cents each is made from dailj' rates, or $1.00 each 
from weekly rates. If three occupy the same room, the 
weekly rate is reduced $2.00 each. Medical attendance 
is extra. Special rates are granted parties of three or 
more who remain a considerable time. For patients a 
weekly rate is made of $16.00 and upwards ; this includes 
board, room and ordinary medical attendance and nurse 
care. 

The community of Las Vegas Hot Springs is perhaps 
unique in one particular. The usual sanatorium consists 
of one or more buildings and is bounded by four walls, 
within which, as in a sick-room, the business of recuper- 
ation is confined. But here is a village, comprising five 
hundred acres, dedicated to the restoration of health 
and under perfect sanitary control. The only feature 
that conforms to the accustomed idea of a sanatorium 
is the hospital, which is separated from The Montezuma 
by a sufficient distance to be unobtrusive. 



25 



III. 



* * IFlew /nbejicau Sketcbes* * * 



27 




A BACKWARD VIEW. 

'OOK out from the open window of your 
room in The Montezuma, through which 
a cool, sweet current is gently blowing. 
Far below, at the foot of the path that 
winds along green terraces, a fountain 
plays among the trees and shrubs of the 
plaza, behind which, as also to the right, rise steep 
tree-clad slopes, sierras cresting an elevation already 
more than a mile above the sea. To the left the vegas 
stretch away for sixty miles, their undulations softened 
by distance into an inviting plain of every conceivable 
shade of green, gilded by the morning sun. Rest, 
peace, security, everywhere meet the sight. It is a 
hushed sabbath of beneficent nature, made more 
impressive by recollection of a time, not long past, 
when romance and terror lurked beneath the same 
smiling face of that landscape, then no less inviting, 
no less fair. And as you gaze you will reflect upon a 
still older time, when down the mountain side and 
out over the grassy vegas, his eye beholding nearly 
the precise picture upon which yours dwells, strode 
an heroic pioneer, a knight in clanking armor, a 
gigantic figure in romantic annals — the First Invader. 



29 




WOMEN OF THE PUEBLOS. 



It is easy to fancy 
yourself face to face 
with the sixteenth 
century. You almost 
look for the print of 
the knight's heel in 
the grass. It was 
yesterday he passed. 
And there is a legend 
that if one should 
journey eastward for 
many wearisome, 
hazardous months 
one would come upon Atlantic shores, but meet no living 
soul except lost heathen. And to the north and west 
lies an unexplored land of undetermined bounds, full 
of allurement and mystery and peril. It is the genius 
of the true Christian to adventure and win earth from 
pagan rule. Great will be the reward of endeavor. 
The entire kingdom, a thousand leagues across the 
sea, is agog for news of the New World. Already in 
anticipation its acclamations greet the hungry ear of 
the warrior who is resolved to plant its banner in the 
heart of an unclaimed wilderness and bring under the 
dominion of the Cross unnumbered 
multitudes of benighted souls. 
But the way is hard ; graves 
lie scattered behind ; and 
the soldiers murmur 
and wonder whose 
sturdy frame will next 
succumb to the rigors 
of the task, whose 



/ 



! 




voice will next be missed from the camp-fire song. 
Yesterday? He stands before you now, that Invader, 
his stern, swart face bent uncompromisingly on you, 
faint-hearted follower that you are, his extended arm 
still northward pointing. ^^ Forward, for God and 
Spain f^^ he thunders. But with a sensation of relief 
entirely unheroic, you will scramble back to the 
extreme rear of the nineteenth century and go to 
breakfast instead. 




A PUEBLO. 

Yet, in spite of the romantic achievements of the 
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, never was there more 
miraculous doing on the face of this round world than 
in our own time. The soldier in armor threaded a 
perilous way over these mountains and across these 
upland plains and lifted here the standard of Spain ; 
and the wilderness closed behind him upon a bedouin 
race unconquered and unyielding. The locomotive 
came, morning sun of our later day, and the bedouin 



31 



fled ; and the scattering mist revealed the benignant 
Saxon ruling the land, irresistible and serene. It is 
well that he is benignant, that Saxon, for he is a terrible 
man. Or, rather, he is the manifestation of a law of 
earth that out of the north and east shall come strength 
and power. The west wind never wafted the fleet of a 
conqueror, the tropics never threw victorious armies into 
the upper zones ; the shadow of the dominant man 
advances with the sun, and Boreas is at his back. He 
built The Montezuma. Yonder, if you seek the con- 
trast, observe the chief commemorative monument of 
his world-subjugating predecessor — a squat adobe hut, 
inhabited by a brown- faced, black-eyed, black-haired 
family, picturesque in appearance, courtly in manner, 
but insulated, isolated, as foreign to our real American 
life as if they dwelt beyond the sea. As for the 
bedouin Indian, you shall seek an example of his 
prime in vain. Only cowed remnants of him are 

scattered here and there, disrep- 
_„__„-.,' utably arrayed, dethroned and 

t; ridiculous. 
' And while you are making 

onset upon an excellent morning 
meal in the aesthetic dining hall 
of The Montezuma, the inhabit- 
ants of the adobes will be mas- 
ticating dried kid and chili. The 
aborigine has apparently schooled 
himself not to eat, since the pillag- 
ing of the Saxon is become for 
him a thing forever past. 




CHURCH OF SAN MIGUEL 



32 




TOUCHING BURROS. 

fVERY living creature is respectable in his 
native environment. Only when trans- 
lated into foreign surroundings is he 
wanting in validity. In contemplating 
an occasional imported specimen of the 
burro in the Bast it is possible you have 
never taken him seriously. In New Mexico, then, you 
will make amends, for you will find him entirely 
authentic in his own realm. 

Unenterprising, fond of his ease, opinionated, and a 
doubter ; that is the burro in outline, up to his ears. 
As for those huge organs, they were evolved to enable 
him to catch the faintest first whisper of a command to 
relapse into statuesque inactivity. In point of fact, they 
serve him even better, for he often chooses to imagine 
that such mandate has issued from his rider, and arro- 
gant in the possession of his appalling, winglike 
appendages he stops, absolutely — and, so far as may 
reasonably be inferred from his 
manner, forever. It avails noth- 
ing with him to argue 
that you never said it. 
He droops an ear 
gratefully, relaxes a 
hind leg, shifts 
his equipoise over 






upon the remaining tripod,^and waits for the end of the 
world. Only the most emphatic prodding will persuade 
him to resume his reluctant way. If he should manifest 
any seeming inclination toward alacrity it will be due to 
his discovery that you object to traveling in a direction 
contrary to that in which your destination happens to lie. 
In the flash of such a divination he is capable of volun- 
tary activity, and will even break into a jog trot for a 
distance of twenty yards— an entirely unprofitable ebulli- 
tion of energy, if you are considering your own interests, 
for his progress is sidelong, radiate, tangential, what you 
will except onward to the path of your choice. 

It is better not to betray a purpose when mounted 
upon a burro; at any rate, no other purpose than that 
he shall keep in motion. To effect this you will find the 
best weapon a goad, improvised from a stout stick, whit- 
tled to a point. Prod him with this resolutely, vigorously, 

frantically ; prod him unceasingly. You 

will not offend him. He expects it. 

He seems to like it. But do not 

ask him to follow so logical a 

sequence as a path — above all 

the right path. Beat about 

the bush, and the crag, and 

behave as if you were going 

nowhere in particular. Tack 

him, jibe him, ease him]ofif the 



34 




instant he appears to divine your secret. If your course 
lies directly to the north, be content with northwest, 
northeast, and even occasionally south-southwest ; and 
if you find yourself drifting too decidedly into southern 
latitudes, act as if you were eagerly bound for the tropics ; 
you can fool him. 

It is well to change the goad frequently from hand to 
hand. This not only enables you to bear up longer 
against fatigue, but doubles the likelihood of finding a 
vulnerable spot in his callous epidermis. When your 
strength finally fails you can walk. You can always 
find your burro again when you want him. To be 
entirely truthful, that is the worst of a burro, that you 
are morally certain to find him where you left him, 
whether you want to or not, unless you have been 
absent so long that hunger has forced him to move. 

The present writer does not regard himself as gen- 
erally either an astute or a vindictive person, but it 
gives him a malicious satisfaction to this day to remem- 
ber how he avenged himself on his first (and last) 
burro, abandoned in despair on an outward trip some 
three miles from The Montezuma. Returning, some 
few hours later, he passed the contentedly waiting 
creature without a glance of recognition and footed it 
back to the hotel with a merry heart, alone. Next morn- 
ing, they said, the burro was found behind the stable, 
limp, despondent, disgusted, his long cheeks bedewed 
with tears, his air proclaiming the shadowed, mis- 
anthropic soul of one who has been betrayed by man 
and possesses an ineradicable grievance. He had 
expected to be pushed home. 



35 




THE PECOS CHURCH. 

?ROM the window of the Pullman car, two 
hours' ride below Las Vegas, may be seen, 
a few miles away, a strange brown ruin 
standing like a dismantled castle upon a 
fortress-like elevation overlooking the sur- 
rounding plain. It is one of the Missions 
founded by Franciscan monks, nobody appears to know 
exactly when, but doubtless soon after the Spanish inva- 
sion, and something like three hundred years ago. On 
account of its location at the Pecos pueblo it is locally 
known as the Pecos Church, Abandoned, solitary, form- 
ing with the adjacent debris of still more ancient struc- 
tures the only visible sign and handiwork of man in 
that lonely valley, it was once the center of a busy 
throng, and often the scene of savage warfare. 

It may be reached by a four-mile drive from the 
small station Rowe, over that highway of romantic 
memory, the old Santa Fe Trail. Although a valley 
hemmed in by mountains, the land is elevated some 
7,000 feet above the sea. It stretches broadly before 
the eye, an arable plain, unbroken save by occa- 
sional arroyos and the single mound that rises nearly 
in the center, buttressed on three sides by enor- 
mous crags, bastions invulnerable to the assault of 
an enemy, although the hand of man had nothing to 



37 



do with its building. Upon this natural elevation the 
ruin stands like a watch-tower, an adobe shell, roofless 
and desolate, backed by the debris of what was once 
a pueblo, a tribal Indian home. Stern must have been 
the necessity that forced a peaceful primitive people 
like the Pueblos to choose a stronghold for their 
dwelling place, and doubtless the Franciscan Fathers 
bowed to the same necessity in building their church 
upon the crown of that citadel ; for though there is 




RUINS OF THE PECOS CHURCH. 

still discernible an old irrigating ditch in evidence of 
once fruitful fields and agricultural occupations, in two 
hours' search you may find upon the surface of the 
slopes of the mound a double handful of arrow heads, 
fashioned from flint and jasper and saw-toothed obsidian ; 
cruel, jagged things, shot by those untamable wild 
men whose nature is to make relentless war upon every 
people except their own. 



38 



L/ittle is known of the history of the Pecos Church ; 
nothing whatever that is trustworthy of the origin of 
the Pueblos, who differ from the roving Indian tribes 
almost as widely as if they were not Indians at all. 
Say that they were stragglers who lagged behind in the 
great southward march of the Toltecs twelve hundred 
years ago, and no really well-informed person will be 
likely to dispute you. But the main story of the ruined 
church is readable upon its crumbling walls. To a 
peaceful, populous village of those mysterious Pueblo 
Indians, huddled in their curious apartment houses of 
adobe and stones upon the summit of this mound, 
came the old Spanish priests, and preached the gospel ; 
and for the better preaching they builded a Mission 
and there dwelt for a space of years with their flock ; 
and by and by they went away ; and they and their 
flock are no more. 

Inclined to religious rites, to peace and the gentle 
pursuits of agriculture, the Pecos Indians 
still were stubborn fighters for their homes 
and their kin. Their enemies were unable 
to dislodge them, unless the final removal 
of the remnant of the tribe some fifty years 
ago was an ultimate concession to hostility. 
At any rate they remained long after the 
priests had departed, and so long as they 
remained (so the tradition runs), there ; 
ceased not from the altar of the church 
erected to the glory of the Catholic 
faith a fire, by night or day, a vestal 
flame, maintained by the Pueblos in 
expectation of Montezuma's return 
to earth and power. 



39 





The demi-gods have 
their habitat as surely as 
plant or animal species. 
Kach must be sought 
upon his particular 
Olympus ; and because 
Montezuma is not to 
be found within the boundaries of New England, 
nor anywhere upon the prairies of the Western States, 
one must not therefore deny him in the land of echo- 
ing caiions, of desert tracts, of cacti, of lofty altitudes, 
and, withal, of abundant verdure, flowers and fruits, 
and of pure air and sunshine. Although you may be 
justified in hearkening to the tradition of the vestal 
flame with mental reservations, and may have a shrewd 
notion that the divinity Montezuma is but an apotheo- 
sized Aztec emperor fallen heir to the old clothes of 
the god of his worship, Quetzalcoatl, you will not 
unlikely gain a juster sense of the difficulties of 
engrafting the idealism of a higher race upon the 
superstitions of a lower. And while you muse by the 
walls of the old church and try to picture a rotund, 
shaven, tonsured, cowled company of godly men in 
such an incongruous setting, three centuries ago, and 
then view the tremendous gulf that intervenes between 
that time and the day when the stones upon which 
you sit were first piled into rude dwellings for man, you 
may reflect that the evolution of pagan gods is a very 
human thing. As distance is the first essential of a 
landscape, so some degree of remoteness in experience 
or space or time is necessary to the appreciation of 
poetic beauty, and, perhaps, in turn creates it. We 
dream of yesterday and tomorrow. Nobody ever wrote 



40 



an ode to the noonday sun ; it is only his rising and 
setting that limners paint and poets sing ; the day that 
is gone, and the day that will come. There is no 
people, no land, so poor in poetry as not to possess a 
yesterday. Kverywhere you will find some tradition of 
an Odysseus, a Buddha, a Moses. "To every nation," 
says the Koran, "God hath given a prophet in its own 
tongue." And in whatsoever manner his own may 
have received him, time deals liberally with a great 
man. It will not have him appear quite mortal to the 
distant view. It swathes him in atmospheric haze that 
obliterates something of his human outline, and more 
and more as we recede. Who among living monarchs 
can be compared to King Solomon ? And can another 
Cleopatra ever live upon this earth ? Already Napoleon 
has become a semi-myth, an almost incredible tradition 
of demoniac force, an Attila-scourge, withheld only by 
the interposition of heaven from overrunning the world. 
And no man, unrebuked, may now whisper that our own 
first national hero ever laughed in his sleeve upon the 
consummation of a horse trade. Time would fain have 
it so, and poetry demands it. Let us therefore forget 
of Montezuma that, like Homer, he may be a compos- 
ite hero. lyCt him have all his halo and at least half 
a dozen ways of spelling his name. lyCt him be prince 
and prophet and redeemer to a mysterious people 
whose minds cannot grasp our finer symbols of divinity. 
Let him be the personification of a heathen idea which, 
stubborn as the Pueblos themselves, still dwells in the 
canons of New Mexico. 




WE GO A-FISHING. 



MOUNTAIN TROUT AND QUAIL. 




HE Pecos River is one of the best trout 
streams in the United States. The trout 
do not attain the size of those in the Rio 
Grande in the State of Colorado, but in 
number and voracity they satisfy the greedi- 
est carrier of a creel. Rarely weighing less 
than half a pound, they often tip the scale 
at over a pound, and two-pounders are not 
infrequently taken. Four miles beyond the 
Pecos Church, almost on the river bank and 
in the heart of the best fishing, is a comfort- 
able ranch-house, where excellent accommo- 
dations in the way of meals and lodging may be 
obtained. Here, also, is the location of a pro- 
posed National Park. 
For many miles the stream offers the perfection of 
fly-fishing. Here and there are pools too deep for 
wading, but the fisherman equipped with hip- 
boots is seldom forced to the bank. 
Following the winding shallows, 
the entire stream may be whipped, 
left and right, and every 
lurking-place under project- 
ing shore and bough ex- 




43 



"^ 





,vf 



■'%y^"' 




plored with a cast of flies. In a delightful three days 
upon this river, the writer recalls but two occasions 
of even momentary embarrassment to his leader by 
bush or branch, and the avidity with which the Pecos 
trout rise to a fly, and the determination with which 
they resist capture, has rarely been equaled in his 
experience. 

What manner of soul has he who does not love to 
drop a cast across the translucent riffles of a stream 




LAKE AT EL PORVENIR. 

that chatters endlessly over sand and pebble and 
ledge, through glimpses of field and wood and gorge, 
under a friendly sky? In every seductive shoal there 
lies a tremendous moment of suspense, an absorbing 
riddle one never wearies of guessing. The powerful 
and somewhat complex charm of fishing is not com- 
prehended by those who depreciate the sport. It was 
not the size, or number, or greediness of the trout 
that made old Walton declare that "other joys are but 
toys"; and if the trout imagine they alone make or 



44 



t. -'C. 



unmake the fisherman's joy they are a fatuous lot — his 
main business is with the brooding mother of us all. 

There are those who would have us think that the 
sportsman is a barbarian — that he who can complacently 
asphyxiate inoffensive fishes and slaughter innocent 
birds has not attained to perfect civilization — is, in fact, 
hopelessly below that state of grace. Although New 
Mexican trout are a comparatively easy prey, the hunter 
of mountain quail, to be quite candid, is not necessarily 
so murderous in fact as in appearance. The question 
of the fate of an uprising quail never outgrows the small 
dignity of a riddle with many gunners. "Shall I get 
him? " That is their query. They 
guess with the right barrel, 
often guess again with the 
left, and not infrequently 
after both guesses find them- 
selves without a 
pang of conscience 
— and without the 
bird. 





He who cares to try 
his hand at mountain 
quail will find an abund- 
ance of two very spright- 
ly varieties of that game- 
bird in numberless New 
Mexican localities. The 
tyro will need all his 
self-command in the first 
few encounters. These 
quail are fleet-footed, and 
take to their wings re- 
luctantly, preferring at 
first to attempt escape 
by running. A sharp 
pursuit forces them to 
flight, and as a covey 
usually numbers scores, 
and sometimes even 
hundreds, '.the [^clatter of 
their simultaneous upris- 
ing is extremely discon- 
certing to inexperienced 
nerves. Their flight is 
short, and upon this fact is based the only effectual 
method of hunting them. One must pursue, and shoot 
without regard to bagging, until several rapid flushings 
and repeated salvos have robbed them of confidence 
in their legs and wings. Then they scatter and lie 
close. At this juncture only is a dog serviceable, 
and fair sport may be had without one, as after 
the birds have been thus bewildered they will lie 
until the ground has been pretty^thoroughly beaten up, 



46 



and will offer successive singles and doubles in abund- 
ance as they are closely approached. 

It^".is mainly in the first 
stages of pursuit, as above 
described, that the habits 
of the mountain quail are 
seen to differ from those 
of his Eastern brother, Bob 
White. When the work 
has fairly begun, the sports- 
man will find him as sud- 
den and swift a target as 
Bob himself, and capable 
of carrying off quite as 
many stray pellets of lead. 
For despite inferiority of 
size and greater delicacy 
of plumage, he is a no less 
hardy bird, powerful of wing 
and tenacious of earthly ex- 
istence. Often will he leave 
a shower of feathers floating 
in his wake and make 
some port in safety, 
notwithstanding. 




i y 



ANNOUNCEMENT, 



This is one of a series of publications^ issued 
by the Santa Fe Route, descriptive of the vari- 
ous health and pleasure resorts alongf its line in 
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California. 

Copies of the other books will be mailed on 
application. 



48 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS f] 






017 055 599 





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